View source for Proposal: Earlier Disk Over-run Warnings

{{Proposal_Header|This page is a proposal to increase Audacity;s resistance to situation where disk over-run causes problems  |}}

__NOTOC__

==The Problem==
[http://bugzilla.audacityteam.org/show_bug.cgi?id=437 Bug #437] relates to this issue and is where it was originally reported.

#Particularly egregious are the Recording functions as when the user runs out of disk space Audacity currently carries on recording but blithely overwrite earlir parts of the recorde project, effectively trashing the user's recording.  Worse still the user has no idea that this has taken place until thay come to access the recording after "completion".
#The Generate and Effect plug-ins are capable of generating large amounts of audio data with the potential for disk overrun, this is not handled cleanly.
#Import can easily be asked to import a data set that is too large for the available disk space.
#Export, particulary of uncompressed file formats but not restricted to them, can generate large amounts of audio data with the potential for disk overrun.
#Even seemingly innocuous commands have the potential to produce sufficient data to overfill the disk.

1 above has given us unwanted bad press on the Wikipedia Audacity page "Limitations" section: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity_%28audio_editor%29#Limitations

== Proposed Feature ==
A suitable headroom buffer to be defined.  This should be user-settable but deep in Preferences and with a sensible default of 50-100MB say.
*For Recording activities:
*#Check before recording starts that there is more space available than the headroom buffer
*#While recording takes place check the availble disk space
*#If and when ir reaches the headroom buffer size: Audacity stops with an error message

*Generators and effects
*#Check before the plug-in starts that there is more space available than the headroom buffer
*#check that the volume of data, based on current settings, will not overfill the disk capacity minus the headroom buffer
*#If we want to be really secure we would need to check as the plug-in progresses that we are not exceeding the headroom ''(in case the estimate was inaccurate)'' and if so stop the plug-in gracefully with an error message.

*Import
*#check that the volume of data, based on current settings and imported filetype, will not overfill the disk capacity minus the headroom buffer
*# if so disallow the import with an error message

*Export
*#check that the volume of data to be drated, based on current settings and exported filetype, will not overfill the disk capacity minus the headroom buffer
*# if so disallow the emport with a suitable error message

*All other commands - in fact '''all''' commands
*#Before the command is implemented in any way check that we have more available space than the hedroom buffer.
*#If not then inhibit the command and display an error message

==Developer/QA Backing==
*Peter

==Use Cases==
TBP

==Tables for analysis and subsequent tracking==

=== File Menu ===

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| New
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Open
| depends on data size and settings
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Close
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Save Project
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Save Compressed Copy of Project Project
| TBP
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Check Dependencies
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Edit Metadata Tags
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Import
| depends on file size & type
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Export (various)
| file size calculable
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Apply Chain
| TRICKY
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Edit Chains
| TBP
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Page Setup
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Print
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
|}

=== Edit Menu ===

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| Cut
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Delete
| TBP
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Copy
| calculable
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Paste
| calculable
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Duplicate
| calculable
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Labelled Audio>Copy
| calculable
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|}

=== Transport Menu ===

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| Record
| open-ended
| yes
| Mark Young
| ongoing
| no
| no
|-
| Timer Record
| open-ended
| yes
| Mark Young
| ongoing
| no
| no
|-
| Append Record
| open-ended
| yes
| Mark Young
| ongoing
| no
| no
|}

== Tracks Menu ==

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| Stereo Track to Mono
| probably calculable
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Mix and Render
| probably calculable
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Mix and Render to new Track
| probably calculable
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Resample
| probably calculable
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|}

=== Generate Menu ===

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| Chirp
| calculable
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| DTMF Tone
| calculable
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Noise
| calculable
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Silence
| calculable
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Tone
| calculable
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Click Track
| calculable
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Pluck
| calculable
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Risset Drum
| calculable
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|}

=== Effect Menu ===

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| Amplify
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Auto Duck
| TBP
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Bass & Treble
| 107% - used more while working
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Change Pitch
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Change Speed
| varies with % change
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Change Tempo
| varies with % change
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Click Removal
| varies
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Compressor
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Echo
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Equalization
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Fade In
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Fade Out
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Invert
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Leveller
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Noise Reduction
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Normalize
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Nyquist Prompt
| ???
| ???
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Paulstretch
| massive
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Phaser
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Repair
| TBP
| unlikely
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Repeat
| 0%
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Reverb
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Reverse
| 100%
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Sliding Time Scale/Pitch Shift
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Truncate Silence
| varies by amount of silence
| possibly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Wahwah
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|}

=== Effect Menu below the line===

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| Adjustable Fade
| 100%
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Clip Fix
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Crossfade Clips
| adds length of fade
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Crossfade Tracks
| adds length of fade
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Delay
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| High Pass Filter
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Limiter
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Low Pass Filter
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Notch Filter
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| SC4
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Spectral edit multi tool
| 100%
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Spectral edit parametric EQ
| 95%
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Spectral edit shelves
| 100%
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Studio Fade Out
| 100%
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Tremolo
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Vocal Reduction and Isolation
| 100%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Vocal Remover
| 50%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Vocoder
| 50%
| yes
| 
| no
| no
| no
|}

=== Analyze Menu ===

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| Contrast
| TBP
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Plot Spectrum
| TBP
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Find Clipping
| TBP
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Beat Finder
| TBP
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Regular Interval Labels
| TBP
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Sample Data Export
| TBP
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Silence Finder
| TBP
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|-
| Sound Finder
| TBP
| probably
| 
| no
| no
| no
|}

=== Generate/Effect/Analyze Menus ===

{| style="text-align: left" class="wikitable sortable"
! valign="top"|Command
! % extra
! Needs trapping
! Assigned to
! Fixed
! Tested
! Resolved
|-
| Add / Remove Plug-ins
| varies
| almost certainly
| 
| no
| no
| no
|}



==Details==
TBP


===GUI Examples===
TBP
 

==Previous Feature Requests relating to this proposal==

* '''Disk use limit for recording''' {{votes|11}}
** '''Option to Disable''' {{votes|1}}

* '''Disk space check before exporting:''' {{votes|16}} - including indication of expected size of export, and choice to export partial file or cancel if insufficient space available. Would stop user exporting WAV files over the 2/4 GB limit, MP3s in excess of ringtone limits etc.
{{devcomment|Could only indicate that space was available at time of checking, could never guarantee the file would be completed if other disk events occurred. However Audacity 2.x does now have a warning if WAV/AIFF exports are not completed.}} 


{{Proposal}}